2 Samuel 21:1–6

Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year; and David inquired of the LORD. And the LORD answered, “It is because of Saul and his bloodthirsty house, because he killed the Gibeonites.” So the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them. Now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites; the children of Israel had sworn protection to them, but Saul had sought to kill them in his zeal for the children of Israel and Judah.

Therefore David said to the Gibeonites, “What shall I do for you? And with what shall I make atonement, that you may bless the inheritance of the LORD?”

And the Gibeonites said to him, “We will have no silver or gold from Saul or from his house, nor shall you kill any man in Israel for us.”

So he said, “Whatever you say, I will do for you.”

Then they answered the king, “As for the man who consumed us and plotted against us, that we should be destroyed from remaining in any of the territories of Israel, let seven men of his descendants be delivered to us, and we will hang them before the LORD in Gibeah of Saul, whom the LORD chose.”

And the king said, “I will give them.”

The Gibeonites are the descendants of the people who made a covenant of peace with Joshua four hundred years earlier. (See chapter 9 of Joshua.) Saul failed to respect that covenant. This offended the LORD, which led to Him withholding rain. That triggered a famine. (Famine is virtually synonymous with drought in the Bible.)

This is an important lesson in covenants. The Gibeonites tricked Joshua into making this covenant. Thus, Saul might have felt that he didn’t need to keep it, even though it had been honored for centuries.

But Saul was wrong—catastrophically so. Joshua 9:18 mentions that the Israelite leaders swore, “to them by the LORD God of Israel.” The LORD is not going to let Saul just blow that off.

Covenants in the name of the LORD are an absolute. They’re the record of our relationship with Him.

The Gibeonites demanding the deaths of seven of Saul’s descendants is also wrong.

“Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor shall children be put to death for their fathers; a person shall be put to death for his own sin.” — Deuteronomy 24:16

But the Gibeonites aren’t subject to the laws of Deuteronomy. They aren’t covenant people (for that covenant, anyway).

Horrible as this is, the LORD is using it to make a point.

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These weekday DEEPs are written by Mike Slay. Saturdays' by Matt Richardson. Subscribe here: https://www.ailbe.org/resources/community

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Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.